For our first-season pairings, I'm keeping it simple by using prestige, with recent success as a tiebreak.

Season 49 Challenge Power Rankings:

Pac 10:
1. Stanford (A+, NT in last 5 seasons, NT Championship Game twice in last 3)
2. Arizona (A+, NT in last 6 but no Elite Eights in last 3)
3. USC (A, 10 straight NTs, second round or better in 3 of last 4)
4. UCLA (A, 11 straight NTs, first-round exit in 4 of last 5)
5*. Cal (B+, no postseason last year but 6 NTs in 7 previous)
6*. Oregon (B+, PIT, NT 2nd, miss, Elite Eight in last four, more coming with crazy 793 OVR this year and no seniors)
7. Fresno St. (B+, Elite Eight last year but PIT, PIT, miss before that)
8. Hawaii (B)
9. Washington (C, roger's in his third season, school has no postseason in last 7 but finished 16-12 last year)
10. Arizona St. (C, aubie's in his second season, school has no winning seasons in last 5 or postseason in last 15)
11. Washington St. (C, Sim)
12. Oregon St. (C- Sim)

Big 12:
1. Kansas (A+, Sweet 16 last year, Elite 8 or better 3 of last 4, NT last 10 years)
2. Texas (A+, ump's in his third season (NT champ game last year), school has an NT win in the last 7 seasons and postseason in 30 of the last 32. Last NC was in season 41)
3. Oklahoma (A-, NT in 4 of last 5, postseason in 21 of last 22, RPI 16 last year)
4. Oklahoma St. (A-, NT in 4 of last 5, nothing before that for a long time, RPI 32 last year and only went to an A- because of the draft)
5. Missouri (B+, NT in last 3 seasons, second round last year)
6. Colorado (B+, last four: win in NT, win in NT, miss, miss)
7. Nebraska (B+, PIT Final Four last year, NT in 3 of last 5)
8. Texas A&M (B+, first-round NT exit in last 3 seasons, slip's in his third season)
9. Iowa State (B)
10*. Kansas St. (C)
11. Texas Tech (C+)
12*. Baylor (B-)

Only three ranked teams lost in the Challenge, and those teams were #4 Kansas, #6 Texas, and #25 Colorado. The Pac 10, the home conference for the inaugural challenge, takes 4-2 at home and 4-2 on the road (overall, the home team went 6-6 in the challenge), and the challenge falls convincingly in favor of the west coasters.

Yeah, I have about 6 home and away series that have continued for many seasons. My rpi is high enough with those. I do not mind taking losses. Kansas is one of the teams I have one of these series with. I like what you are doing, and I appreciate making HD have other twists. I also am not sure if it is a very good idea for the Pac10 to have us matched up across the rankings like that. It looks to me that you would on paper have maybe an 8-4 advantage.

Cal - In order to keep everything roughly seeded correctly while not having the same matchups in seasons 49 and 50, I have to occasionally break parity. If you hold the home/away here, I promise that everyone that's had two home games will have an away game next year and vice versa.

This means that UCLA, Cal, Oregon St., Texas, Oklahoma, and K-State will be on the road next year, while USC, Oregon, Wash St., Kansas, Oklahoma State, and Iowa St. will be at home.

As for the matchups: I honestly seeded the conferences 1-12 based on recent success and estimated strength going forward. In Season 49, the Big 12 was home in games 2, 3, 6, 7, 10, and 11. In Season 49, we're home in 1, 4, 5, 8, 9, and 12. I genuinely think that's fair.

If you'd like, you or someone else from the Pac 10 could submit the power rankings for your conference - I know that's how the NAC and the Capital used to do it in DIII.